No public announcement of the service suspension was made. You’d just visit an Econet service center and get told that the services were temporarily suspended. And that if you came back after a few weeks, you’d get all the 3G you wanted. In the press, all we read was that the service had received an overwhelming response. Looking back, Econet obviously meant the ‘overwhelming’ part literally.

Today, more than six months later, activation of subscribers to 3G services has still not resumed. This is despite numerous calls and visits by subscribers to Econet service centers and public announcement by Econet leadership that by March, 3G services would be “fully national, and vastly improved in terms of capacity and speed”

The most recent public speech by Econet CEO, Douglas Mboweni, was last week when Econet launched the new call center in Harare. He didn’t mention the resumption of 3G activation for subscribers. He didn’t even give any update on when 3G services would likely be available nationally.

In these modern times, when customers are more connected and have more channels to say out their mind, this can make for a messy PR situation. To be fair, Econet has tried to be proactive in this area. They have boldly faced their customers on Facebook for example; giving updates, offering service tips, asking their customers, and encouraging honest feedback.

Lately though, a post about this 3G blackout by a subscriber seems to have made the business development crew that updates the page think otherwise. They went silent. The silence seems to have attracted even more antagonism from infuriated subscribers on Facebook. About a week or so ago, a Facebook hate page targeted purely at Econet was created and it already has about 160 fans. The page’s purpose:

Clearly, the owner of the hate page is way out of line to take matters this far. Econet rates for example are highly competitive by regional standards. And the Monopoly; first it’s not a monopoly and second, Econet doesn’t owe its position at the top to any unscrupulous or monopolistic behaviour. That said, you still can’t deny the truth in the 3G accusation.

To be clear: 3G services are certainly on their way. We think Econet will probably be ready in a month or two. Maybe three.

It’s the unnecessary hype that Econet built around the 3G launch. It’s the billboards that screamed “now you can do video calling on your phone!”. It’s the 3G activated sim cards available in abundance on the black market for US $150. It’s the Econet service center agents who, since September last year, have been saying 3G will be available in a few weeks. It’s the lack of honest updates. It is all these things here that Econet should have avoided, and should now learn from.

4 Comments

Econet should watch out….Telecel is slowly creeping up to take their space. And if Telecel launches their moible internet before Econet re-opens subscriptions then you can bet they will lose a hode of current and potential Internet customers…myself included…

As commenter No. 1 said, that behaviour is no way of keeping trust. They do need to make it clear what is going on with new 3G subscriptions. It is annoying when you are told later this week and then told the same thing again a week later until you eventually give up. That was my experience at the end of last year. As far as comment No. 2 I really don’t think that Econet can consider Telecel as a threat. Econet will eat them alive!!